{"id":6957,"date":"2025-09-07T00:08:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T00:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/6957\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T00:08:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T00:08:13","slug":"the-spectacular-winning-images-of-the-2025-underwater-awards-australasia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/6957\/","title":{"rendered":"The Spectacular Winning Images of the 2025 Underwater Awards Australasia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/a>Photo credit: Luciano Morales Corinaldesi, Sina Ritter, and Jake Wilton. <\/p>\n

A photo of a leopard seal with its jaws wide open has taken home the top prize in the Underwater Awards Australasia 2025. <\/p>\n

James Ferrara\u2019s shot of a leopard seal in Antarctica won \u2018Best in Show\u2019 as well as the top spot in the International Waters Category. \u201cKnown for their mix of curiosity and aggression, they\u2019re a dream subject for any underwater photographer,\u201d Ferrara says. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhile these powerful predators often rest on ice floes to conserve energy after a big meal, I was fortunate enough to spend time in the water with this one. At first, it was standoffish, keeping its distance, but as the encounter progressed, it became increasingly curious. By the end, it was opening its mouth and flashing its teeth\u2014a clear display of dominance, a reminder of who\u2019s in charge! Though I felt a jolt of nerves, the thrill of experiencing my dream scenario kept me focused, present, and absolutely in awe.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other category winners are Vadim Belakhov (Sharks), Neil Vincent (Conservation), Talia Greis (Sydney), Marcia Riederer (Australian), Jake Wilton (Portfolio), Luciano Morales Corinaldesi (Smartphone\/Action Cam), Imogen Manins (Tough TG), and Laura Gourgas (Reels Showcase).\t<\/p>\n

International Waters \"A<\/a>Overall winner and winner of the \u2018International Waters\u2019 category. | James Ferrara. \"A<\/a>Second place in the \u2018International Waters\u2019 category. A jellyfish, just three to four centimeters, is found in Japan. | Luc Rooman
\n \"A<\/a>Third place in the \u2018International Waters\u2019 category. A translucent shrimp in Tulamben\u2019s black volcanic sand seabeds. | Maryline Renault \"Two<\/a>Honorable Mention in the \u2018International Waters\u2019 category. Mating toads in early spring. | Luc Rooman \"Three<\/a>Honorable Mention in the \u2018International Waters\u2019 category. Three humpbacks. | Rowan Dear Sharks \"A<\/a>Winner of the \u2018Sharks\u2019 category. A Port Jackson shark. | Vadim Belakhov \"A<\/a>Second place in the \u2018Sharks\u2019 category. An oceanic whitetip that \u2018appeared out of the blue.\u2019 | Sina Ritter \"A<\/a>Third place in the \u2018Sharks\u2019 category. A thresher shark. | Megan Shea-Graff \"A<\/a>Honrable Mention in the \u2018Sharks\u2019 category. An epaulette shark at first light in a lagoon. | Gabriel Guzman
\n \"A<\/a>Honrable Mention in the \u2018Sharks\u2019 category. A tightly packed baitball is encircled by gray reef sharks. | Laura Gourgas Australian \"A<\/a>Winner of the \u2018Australian\u2019 category. A dwarf minke in the Great Barrier Reef. | Marcia Riederer \"A<\/a>Second place in the \u2018Australian\u2019 category. An entourage of reef fish glides with a manta ray. | Laura Gourgas \"Underwater<\/a>Third place in the \u2018Australian\u2019 category. Water lilies illuminated by strobes in Craters Lake National Park, Queensland. | Andrew Watson \"A<\/a>Honorable Mention in the \u2018Australian\u2019 category. A playful seal off the coast of New South Wales | Rowan Dear \"A<\/a>Honorable Mention in the \u2018Australian\u2019 category. A leafy seadragon, one of the ocean\u2019s \u2018most majestic creatures.\u2019 | Lewis Burnett Smartphone \"Two<\/a>Winner of the \u2018Smartphone\u2019 category. A green turtle stack. | Luciano Morales Corinaldesi
\n \"A<\/a>Second place in the \u2018Smartphone\u2019 category. \u2018Shaun the Sheep.\u2019 | Sean Elliott \"A<\/a>Third place in the \u2018Smartphone\u2019 category. A mola mola. | Marco Luciani \"A<\/a>Honorable Mention in the \u2018Smartphone\u2019 category. A fur seal of Baranguba Montague Island Nature Reserve. | Selanie Waddilove \"A<\/a>Honorable Mention in the \u2018Smartphone\u2019 category. A green sea turtle in Ningaloo Reef. Luciano Morales Corinaldesi Portfolio Winner \"A<\/a>Jake Wilton won the \u2018Portfolio\u2019 category for his series of photos taken on Ningaloo Reef, Austrlaia. <\/p>\n

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\"Overhead<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Sydney \"A<\/a>Winner of the \u2018Sydney\u2019 category. A giant cuttlefish drifts gracefully through the shallows of Shark Point, Sydney. | Talia Greis \"A<\/a>Second place in the \u2018Sydney\u2019 category. A pair of mating pygmy pipehorse pair with visible egg transfer. | Daniel Sly \"Close-up<\/a>Third place in the \u2018Sydney\u2019 category. A Port Jackson shark\u2019s resident cleaner, an eastern cleaner-clingfish. | William Gladstone \"A<\/a>Honorable Mention in the \u2018Sydney\u2019 category. A weedy seadragon. | Daniel Sly
\n \"A<\/a>Honorable Mention in the \u2018Sydney\u2019 category. An eastern gobblegut with a clutch of fertilized eggs in his mouth. | Daniel Sly Conservation \"A<\/a>Winner of the \u2018Conservation\u2019 category. This crocodile swallowed the plastic bottle. | Neil Vincent \"A<\/a>Second place in the \u2018Conservation\u2019 category. A \u2018reef tree\u2019 planted by a non-profit at Fitzroy Island. | Angelina Pilarinos \"A<\/a>Third place in the \u2018Conservation\u2019 category. A fish uses garbage as a raft. | PJ Aristorenas \"A<\/a>Honorable Mention in the \u2018Conservation\u2019 category. This seadragon had been seriously injured by a fishing line and slowly starved to death. | David Baxter \"A<\/a>Honorable Mention in the \u2018Conservation\u2019 category. A guitarfish struggles with a discarded name badge in the wake of Cyclone Alfred. | Andrii Slonchak <\/p>\n

All the winners can be found on the photo competition\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo credit: Luciano Morales Corinaldesi, Sina Ritter, and Jake Wilton. A photo of a leopard seal with its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[85,8902,111,139,69,8903,147,8904,8905],"class_list":{"0":"post-6957","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-leopardseal","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz","13":"tag-photocompetition","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-underwaterphotocontest","16":"tag-underwaterphotography"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}